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Table Manners with Kog'Maw

To start things, Kog'Maw is one of the most item dependent champions in the game. Early game, expect not to get many kills, you should focus on farming money, harassing the opponent and staying alive. (As always)

--- Abilities ---

Passive - Icathian Surprise

Upon dying, Kog'Maw starts a chain reaction in his body which causes him to move faster and detonate after 4 seconds; dealing 100 + (25 x lvl) true damage to surrounding enemies.

--> This is a nice ability, but don't plan to use it. After all it does require you to die... And well, that's never good.

--> The passive is amazing, especially since it stacks with Last Whisper for some amazing armor penetration. The activation is ok if you have time to use it, or the distance. But with Kog'Maw range is your friend, if you're doing it properly, you most often won't be close enough to activate.

W - Bio-Arcane Barrage

Kog'Maw's attacks gain range and deal a percent of the target's maximum health as magic damage.

These runes give you increased attack speed further increasing your damage from auto-attacks (granting more devouring capabilities) as well as the health and mana to sustain a little more duration during team fights.

I could list every summoner spell in the game, but for simplicity:Exhaust - Very nice spell, slow runners, chasers, disable Yi and reduce Magic Resist.Ghost - Chase, Run beastly ability paired with Kog's massive range.

Others I could see as viable:Clarity - If you have no mana regen runes and few mana regen items, don't need it with this build.Teleport - If you're new to Kog'Maw and are nervous if you'll be out harassed get this so you can recall, buy items and port back very quickly. (Required for 1v2 lanes imo)

Anything else is beyond my recommendation, based on preference though.

--- Items ---

Start off with Doran's Shield and some Health Pots. This will allow you to stay in a lane for a very good duration, allowing you to farm more money.

Once you have to recall (don't recall until you have to) pick up some Berserker's Greaves. This grants the movement speed Kog'Maw loves, and the Attack Speed the other team hates.

The next couple items can go in any order. You want to pick up Fiendish Codex or Madred's Razor. This will grant you the mana regen to stay in a lane, and the auto-attack farm capabilities.

After your first 3 items are completed you can build a Guinsoo's Rageblade. Be sure to try and maintain max stacks before a team fight begins, even if you just take pot shot's with your ult. (Don't waste too much mana)

Sell Doran's Shield and pick up Void Staff. This ability is a nice final item. At this point, if the other team is smart at all, they will stack magic resist to fight off your Bloodrazor and Bio-Arcane Barrage damage. This magic pen. will increase the damage of said item/ability.

--- Tips ---

If you've read this far, you know how to build Kog'Maw but not how to play him. These are from my games with the deadly Mouth of the Abyss.

1) Never over-extend. You are very fragile with no escape ability, only chase when you are certain you can get a kill, without a death.

2) When your Icathian Surprise activates, tap the space bar quickly so your camera focuses on your champ. Most players will try to juke you, and this gives you room to click all around your screen to maximize the damage.

3) Bio-Arcane Barrage gives you massive range, if the target is close enough to a wall, you may be able to shoot over it. With practice you can tell when you have room to do this for an easy kill or harass.

4) Living Artillery is deadly, practice hitting with it so that you can maximize on damage, and minimize your wasted mana.

5) People move without thinking. Help your team by dropping an Artillery into bushes quite often before you lose people to a trap, never venture into a bush without dropping an artillery.

6) Do not KS. I know, it is tempting with a super far Ultimate, but if another team mate will get the kill that they deserve, let them. You need your team to be a meat shield for you, and upsetting them will result in you dying too much.

7) Range, Range, Range. Kog'Maw is a professional marksman. Be at max range, at all times.

8) Finally, I cannot stress this enough. Kog'Maw is VERY item dependent. Farm, Farm, Farm. Once you get your first 3 completed items (Berserker's Greaves, Madred's Bloodrazors, and Nashor's Tooth) you can go slower on the farming, and emphasize on the champ feasting.

I hope this helps, and I hope you enjoy the terror that is Kog'Maw: Mouth of the Abyss.

Instead of berzerker's greaves shouldn't you pick up something more useful like boots of swiftness or mercury treads? The other items are already providing you with all the attack speed you will ever need. You also don't suggest any defensive items at all which also makes me concerned about the actual effectiveness of this playstyle.

@Sniperness - I Have the Attack Speed quints and marks because the early game attack speed is what you need. As Kog'Maw is so item dependant this allows you to get your Bio-Arcane Barrage to hit an extra 1-2 times (each harassment activation) allowing for increased odds of killing, or early team fights since the build doesn't have Attack Speed early.

@TheOneTrueAustin - I go with Berserker Greaves for a cheap early game item, of course as with all builds you can substitute them out mid-late game for Mercury if needed. And if you have decent map awareness Void Ooze + Ghost is all you need to escape a gank, no need for Boots of Swiftness. In an end game senario if you have someone on you, odds are you aren't getting away due to a slow or stun of some sort. With your massive range 3+ people should be dead before you even get close enough to be in real danger.

@Nyyyyyy - Flash is a possibility, with all the recent nerfs to it (cooldown increased, range decreased) I don't find it to be as effective as an Exhaust + Ghost combo. But hey, it's all user preference.